Primary school pupils in Nottingham are improving at a faster rate after new figures were released by the Department for Education.

The data is based on pupils’ progress between key stage 1 and key stage 2.

It shows pupils at schools in Nottingham city recorded a 'progress score' of 0.4 for reading, 0.8 for writing and 1.1 for maths. The results represent a 0.4 percent increase on last year's results, which were 0, 0.4 and 0.7 respectively.

This ultimately means that Nottingham city schools has moved up 27 league places in both reading and writing – from 80th place to 53rd in the former and from 64th place to 37rd in the latter.

In maths, Nottingham pupils have climbed 13 places from 48th place to 35. These are out of 152 local authority areas around the country.

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Progress scores aimsto capture the educational achievement that pupils make through their junior years and up until the time they leave primary school.

The idea is that schools are rewarded for the progress that pupils make regardless of whether they are low, middle or high achievers academically.

Any increase in attainment by each pupil is reflected in the school’s progress scores.

Councillor Sam Webster, portfolio holder for business, education and skills at Nottingham City Council, said: "I’d like to congratulate pupils for their achievement and hard work, while paying tribute to the support of their teachers, school support staff, parents and carers.

A school classroom

"What these figures show is that when compared to their peers nationally, our children are making excellent progress in the three key areas of reading, writing and maths.

"They are clearly making great strides during those important years in primary school.

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"What we need to do now is work collectively to ensure that this same level of progress is sustained in secondary schools and, ultimately, translates into better GCSE results. We have a lot of work to do in this area as a city."

This news comes after Ofsted released a report last week which showed 85 percent of Nottingham city primary schools were scored as good or outstanding - an increase of two percentage points on the previous year.

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Terry Smith, head teacher of Greenfields Community School in The Meadows, which has 250 pupils, told the Post: "It is fantastic news. The results are really impressive.

"The progress that children are making across the city is higher than the national average. There are an increasing number of children that come into the school with English as their second language or third or fourth, which is fantastic, but presents a bit of a challenge.

"It does mean that the children who present challenges are making good progress and that is due to the teachers and teaching assistants."

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Amanda Dawson, head teacher at Mellers Primary School in Radford, which has 305 pupils, said: "The vast majority of students are 18 months behind where we would expect them to be at three-years-old.

"The reason behind this is children have not been given the opportunity to make good use of language and enriching experiences to prepare them. These tend to be children where English is their first language."

She said "the standard and quality of teaching" was the reason behind the rise.

Meanwhile, schools elsewhere across Nottinghamshire, not including the city, recorded a progress score in reading of -0.1, 0.3 in writing and 0 in maths.